Tale as old as time
by That-One-Nerd-Person
Summary: As if life hadn't been hard enough for Madeline when she was the strange girl who lived just outside of the town with her wack-a-doo brother, too poor to afford anything. Now a monster has trapped her in an old castle in the woods. She has no idea if her brother's still alive or how much longer she has before the beast decides to do away with her too. How much worse can things get?
1. Chapter 1

_"Once upon a time, in a far away land, there lived a handsome prince who lived in a shining castle. He had everything his heart could possibly desire, but he was spoiled, selfish, and overall unkind. One cold winter evening, an old beggar-woman came to the castle, pleading to take shelter from the bitter cold in the castle for the night in return for a single rose. Repulsed by her haggard appearance, the Prince sneered at the gift and turned the old woman away. But she warned him not to be deceived by appearance, for beauty is found within._

_"When he dismissed her once again, the old woman's ugliness melted away to reveal a beautiful enchantress. The prince tried to apologize, but it was too late, for she had seen that there was no love in his heart. As punishment, she transformed him into a repulsing beast and placed a spell on the castle and all who lived there. _

_"Ashamed of his monstrous form, the beast concealed himself inside his castle with a magic mirror from the enchantress being his only window to the outside world. The rose she had offered him was truly an magic rose, which would bloom until his 20th year as a hideous beast. If he could learn to love another and earn love in return by the time the last crimson petal fell, then the spell would be broken. If not, the he would be doomed to forever remain a beast. After waiting month after endless month, years began to pass, and he fell into despair and lost all hope. For who could ever love such a hideous beast?"_

"Ah! No, no, no! Bad dog, Kumachuchu! This is not food!" Madeline shrieked, trying to pull the small white dog away from the book she had been reading. She shoed the dog off the bed she had been laying on. She glared at the little fluff-ball of snow white fur until it turned around and walked out of the room, stubby tail wagging behind it.

She turned back to the book - or rather, what was left of it. Torn, chewed up pages were strewn across the blankets. She picked up a few of the bits and pieces that weren't completely covered in dog slobber and tried desperately to fit them back together. After a few moments of panicking, she finally gave up.

"That's it, no more table scraps for you mister! Or...at least none for the rest of this week..." she muttered the last part, knowing that she would never be able to resist the begging faces he made at supper time. She let out a long sigh and began picking up every last piece of the book, carefully drying off the really damp ones on her pinafore and placing them in basket placed on her bedside table.

"How am I going to pay for this? I can't just return this to the lbookstore in this condition." she mumbled to herself as she finished up. The blonde picked the basket and walked out of her room.

"I'll be back later Kumanachi, keep an eye on the house for me while I'm gone, okay? And no more eating my books!" She  
kneeled down in front of the dog and shook her finger in disapproval in front of his face. She glared at him, trying to communicate her seriousness to the canine. Instead, the puppy tilted it's head to the side, then leaned forward and licked the tip of her nose, maneuvering around her hand, before running off back into the another area of the small cottage.

The blonde girl smiled as she stood back up, part of her still unable to believe that the dog would do no harm while she was away. Still, she knew she had little choice, they were running low on food as it was, so she to go shopping before supper time. She walked to the front door, sparing one last glance at the pup with his floppy tongue hanging lazily out of the side of his mouth, and closing the door as she left.

Bright indigo eyes scanned the familiar surrounding scenes of nature and the local village visible on the not-so-distant horizon. In the other direction, just beyond the cottage she lived in, was a forest, dense with large trees that stood many feet above her head. Stretching in between were fields of bright green grass with a cloudless, blue sky overhead. A small, rarely-used, dirt path, that was just wide enough for a common carriage to ride across, led from the village, past her cottage, and into the darkness of the forest.

She strolled down the rough pathway towards the town, basket swinging beside her as she walked. Her blonde hair suspended in loose pigtails on the sides of her head by red ribbons tied neatly into bows. The wind lightly blowing the light blue skirt of her dress from side to side. She always loved the peace and quiet she got when walking on the path to town. What she truly dreaded was what really happened once she arrived there. For now, she would just try to clear her mind and ignore any and all of her nagging worries.

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**Well then...there's that... I apologize if this is a bunch of crap like I was originally worried it would be. I suppose this is technically my first fanfic written on here, but I tried my best to make it good. The idea for this has been sort of just sitting in my head for quite a while, so I finally gave in and wrote out a beginning for it. I have planned out at least the basic outline for this story, so follows would be appreciated.**

**In fact, any favourites, follows, or reviews would be greatly appreciated! If in it's to tell me something that I could fix or if there are spelling/grammatical errors, I'd love any of it!**

**This is sort of a prolouge-ish thing, so I do plan for the other chapters to be longer. This is based off of Beauty and The Beast, but I plan to change a lot of things. And yeah, I'm really uncreative with outfits and stuff, so for the time being at least, she's pretty much wearing Belle's basic outfit from the Disney movie.  
**


	2. Chapter 2

** Sorry about the super long wait for an update, I've just had so much going on. Anyways, I doubt you want to really want to hear my excuses. I tried making this chapter longer to hello make up for that. I'm hoping to make most chapters around 2,000 words, not including the A/N**

**Thank you to everyone who has already followed/favourited/reviewed.**

**Once again, I don't mind harsh criticism as long as it's helpful. If you see any mistakes of any parts that seem to be too repetitive or lacking of something, please let me know.**

**Also, the cover is from a picture by ReverseAlchemist on deviantart. I don't have a link right now, but I believe it was just title Beauty and the Beast.**

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Madeline stared up at the sky as she walked down the road. Her gaze shifted forward as she the rough dirt path transitioned to the cobblestone kind found throughout the village. She did her best to stay in the shadows and avoided the gossiping crowds that lingered around many of the shops. Occasionally she would wave to one of the kinder of the townsfolk, greeting them with a cheerful _'Bonjour'. _The blonde quickly walked through the town, wasting no time stopping to browse the flower stands and whatnot. She didn't want to spend anymore time in town than was absolutely necessary.

It wasn't long before she arrived at one of the few locations in town that was rather desolate of people. A small bell rang as she entered the quaint bookshop, alerting anyone within the shop of her presence. As Madeline stepped further into the store, there was she noticed movement coming from a large pile of books, maps, and other assortments of papers in the far corner of the room. She quickly ran over to the mound, tossing her basket off to the side, and pulled the books and things away until the small being underneath was revealed.

"Oh, why hello there Madeline. What a nice surprise to see you here!" bright green eyes looked up at her with a light smile as she pulled a map from the face of the figure on the ground and discarded it. Pale white arms lifted themselves and found a clear spot on the ground before the buried person pulled himself up in to a sitting position, the remaining books falling falling into his lap.

"Well you certainly should be glad I'm here. With the amount of business you get here, who knows how long you would have been trapped here had I not come along!" she smirked, brushing another paper off of her head. He had unusually thick eyebrows, and short, curly, light brown hair. His maroon red shirt had a few barely noticeable ink stains.

"How many times do you need to have stack of books dropped on your head before your finally listen to me, hmm Will? Is it really that much trouble to go out and buy even just a step stool?" she said for what was possible the hundredth time. Will was just about as short as a man his age could naturally be. Even sitting on the floor of the book shop, Madeline's head was nearly a whole foot above his own. Standing made little difference for his height, though in his defense, Madeline was one of the tallest girl's in town too. Together the two made a rather odd pair, but it never bothered either of them.

"Perhaps just a few more times, maybe then I'll get it" he laughed, raising himself off the ground. Madeline went to grab her basket from where it lay, her smile shrinking as she saw that it had fallen open, allowing for much of it's contents to escape. She gathered the torn pages quickly, keeping her back from Will hoping there was still a chance he hadn't noticed. Unfortunately, she hadn't picked them up quick enough.

"What's that?" He asked, walking over to her just as she dropped the last torn piece of paper back into the basket. She bit her lip nervously as she stood and turned to face him. Though Will wasn't really one to get angry very easily, Madeline was still worried over how her friend might react.

"O-oh, what? Um, w-well...how do I say this? Er...Okay, so, you know that b-book that I was borrowing form you? W-well, funny story really! It would seem that Kumameena got a hold of it and- it was an accident I swear! Although, I was kind of reading it when it happened..." she rambled on, her words getting more and more jumbled as she spoke. After having enough of watching his friend suffer, Will put his hands on her arms, trying to grab her attention.

"Madeline. Calm. Down. So you say your dog ate the book?" She nodded meekly, revealing the contents of the basket for him to see. "It's okay, don't worry about it." he shrugged.

"W-what?! But it's completely destroyed! There has to be something I can do to make up for it, anything!" she waved what remained of the book around in the air, a few leftover pieces of paper flying away.

"It's not that big of a deal Maddie, really. Look around you, do you really think anyone would have come and bought it anytime soon anyways?" he gestured around the empty book shop. Many of the people in the village couldn't read, and the few who did rarely took the time to stop and browse for a book. Even though it was the only place to buy books for miles, Will was always in danger of going out of business.

"If it really makes you feel better, just think of it as more of a loan. You destroy one of my books for free, and then in a few years when you're super rich, you can just give me a bunch of money to help pay for the store!" he joked, lightly elbowing her side. He bent over and began picking up some of the tattered bits from the ground. She silently rolled her eyes and knelt down to help him.

"Well, I guess I really should get going now, I have a lot of shopping to do with the little money I have left! Thank you again Will, and I promise, I _will_ pay you back no matter what!" Madeline said after they had picked up every last bit of paper. She gave a brief hug to her short friend before grabbing her basket and walking out the door, waving behind her. "Au revoir!"

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Madeline looked up to the cloudless sky above. The sun was almost right above her, she noted. Just after noon. She didn't realize she had spent so much time in the bookshop. She had even less time for shopping than she had planned.

She reached her left hand into the pocket of her pinafore and pulled out all of the money she had brought with her. Eight copper pieces and five silver. That was barely enough to buy herself a good meal, not to mention her hollow-legged brother and little puppy who ate like a full-grown hound. Maybe if she was lucky the butcher and the baker would take pity on her and give her just enough food for the last bits of money she had. She let out a cold laugh just quiet enough for only herself to hear. As if that would ever happen.

She placed the coins into her pocket and set off to try and find something edible and also affordable in the village. After buying some meat from the butcher, she had only three copper pieces left to buy bread. Well, it would seem that it she'd have to settle for the cheap stale bread once again. She bought the last two small loafs of bread leftover from a week ago.

She sighed as she exited the bakery and looked up to the sky once again. Only about two more hours before sunset. If she didn't get home soon, her brother may begin worrying. She starting walking quickly back down the road towards the edge of the town, a small smile growing on her lips. Despite the all that she had gone through today, it had actually been an extremely fortunate one for her. Even though she had to run all throughout the village to find decent prices for food, she still somehow managed not to run into that creepy, muscular jerk Gil-

Somebody bumped into Madeline from behind, knocking her forwards and onto the ground, spilling some of the contents of her basket onto the path along with her. Luckily she had caught herself, so only her hands were hurting. She wiped the dirt from herself and examined her hands, noticing small traces of blood on her palms.

"Well hallo there Madeline, I didn't see you there! I guess I wasn't paying attention to where I was going, too busy enjoying this _book!_" looks like she wasn't as lucky as she thought. Gilbert walked around so the he was standing in front of Madeline, making a big show of the fact that he was in fact holding a book. He wide grin was as toothy as ever, fiery red eyes stared at her waiting for her response.

"Gilbert, that book is upside down" she said flatly. His smile instantly shrunk and he faked a couple of coughs, throwing the book absently over his shoulder as if to pretend it was never there. His grin reappeared just as quickly as it had gone and her leaned over in front of Madeline. He grabbed one of the bread loafs and took a large bite out of it. He made a strange face and disposed of it similarly to the book.

"You know Madeline, a lady like you really ought to be eating much better than that out-of-date crap. If you were my wife I'd buy you all of the food you want. Of course, you'd be using it to cook all of our meals, but it'd still be better than this." he commented, raising one of his pale eyebrows suggestively. Madeline gave her most obviously faked smiles as she picked up the last of her food and placed them back into her basket.

"Oh I don't think I can even put into words how much I would love that! The only problem is," _that I have already vowed that I would never in a million years agree to marry someone who is so excruciatingly fake and whose only goal is the chance to get his hands on some money by marrying me _she wanted to say. However, unlike her brother she wasn't quite that blunt. "I just don't think I have the time to handle that intimate of a relationship at the moment. Between having to shop and watch over my dog and my brother, and well everything else too, I just don't think I can handle any sort of relationship at the moment. Maybe in a few years if you're still interested?"

She gave a small smile at his confused expression. With how quickly she had spoken, along with how slow it usually took his brain to process things, he would probably remain baffled in the same spot for the next half hour or so. Madeline took he opportunity and fled from his view before he had the chance to come back to reality. She continued running until she reached the path outside of town, just in case he did happen to come-to quicker than usual.

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By the time Gilbert gave up on trying to find the actual meaning of Madeline's words, she had disappeared. He looked down the road in both directions and scratched his head. He shrugged and began to walk back towards the pub he was usually found at, his mind still trying to remember exactly what Maddie had said. _'I would love that!'_ he specifically remember her saying.

Before long, his mind had begun to fill in the blanks in it's own strange and twisted way _'Oh Gilbert, I would just love to marry you! If only it wasn't for my idiot brother!'_ Oh course! That's must be what she meant! He took a swig from the beer he had grabbed off the bar. He didn't really care that it had been someone else's drink, they could just buy their own.

_If only there was a simple way to get rid of him. Then me and Maddie could live happily with all of our money _he thought. As he downed another free beer, he decided that all of this thinking in one day probably wasn't good for him. It had taken him a majority of the morning to come up with the plan with running into her with a book. _Ah, I'll just wait till he blows himself up with one of his stupid 'inventions'. That shouldn't take too long._

Gilbert grinned at that plan. It was simple, didn't require any effort from Gilbert, plus it got Maddie's stupid brother out of the picture entirely. That way he would end up with all of the money instead of having to split it with that dumb-o. He nodded to himself, liking this plan more and more by the minute.

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**So yeah, sorry about making Prussia so shallow and stupid, I just felt like it was necessary for this fanfic.**

**And the whole thing about the money is probably rather confusing at this point. I was going to explain it here, but I couldn't really find a way to fit it in well, so I plan to explain that situation better in the next chapter.**

**I don't really know how often I'll be able to update, but hopefully it'll be more often than it was this time. Still, I don't want to make any promises and then end up letting you down anyways.**

**I've also decided that this _will_ be a MapleTea/UKCan /CanUK/Whatever-other-name-for-that-pairing and I am going to change the name because... well I can't help but think of the song _What is love_ and then feel like it really doesn't fit at all. Still, I'm horrible with names and if anyone would like to suggest a title I'm all ears!**


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